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Energy Tomorrow is brought to you by the American Petroleum Institute (API), which is the only national trade association that represents all aspects of America's oil and natural gas industry. Our more than 500 corporate members, from the largest major oil company to the smallest of independents, come from all segments of the industry. They are producers, refiners, suppliers, pipeline operators and marine transporters, as well as service and supply companies that support all segments of the industry.

LNG Wold News Blog: Dominion said it has celebrated with its international business partners and Maryland community leaders the construction of the Dominion Cove Point LNG liquefaction project.
Kenichiro Sasae, the Japanese ambassador to the United States, and Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan joined Dominion Chairman Thomas F. Farrell II at the ceremony, along with Diane Leopold, president, Dominion Energy; Kazuhiro Takeuchi, president, CEO, and general manager for the Americas, Sumitomo Corp of Americas; Jayanta Sinha, president, GAIL Global U.S.A., and Steven R. Weems, president, Calvert County Board of County Commissioners.

ExxonMobil Perspectives Blog: Lawmakers in Maryland are considering legislation to extend the de facto ban on hydraulic fracturing put in place by former Governor Martin O’Malley. Specifically, Annapolis currently is considering a proposal to ban the practice in the state’s portion of the Marcellus Shale for at least three years.
This would be a bad idea for Maryland for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is the fact that natural gas has played an increasingly larger role in the state’s energy mix in recent years. Meanwhile coal has become increasingly less important.

Rice University: Lifting the 40-year-old export ban on U.S. crude oil would have far-reaching effects on pricing, energy security and energy sector investment, according to new research from the Center for Energy Studies at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy in Houston.
The study, “The US Crude Oil Export Ban: Implications for Price and Energy Security,” was presented today at a news conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., by Kenneth Medlock, the center’s senior director and the paper’s author.

The Obama Administration released new federal regulations on hydraulic fracturing last Friday that could add to the cost of shale development, and add costs to the poorest Americans the most. ‘Fracking’ is already heavily regulated bythe states and new federal rules could hurt the booming shale industry in places like Wyoming – a state with the largest amount of development on federal lands. These reasons – and more – underscore the question – Do we really need new federal regulations? (Shorter: No.)

The 40 year-old oil export ban has been a hot topic in Congress the last few weeks. And as the Senate took up discussion today on the benefits of open trade on global prices, the geopolitical case for ending the ban were made clear.

NY Times: Sometimes, even the supposed experts can lose track of a billion dollars or two. Or, in this case, $100 billion.
While few outside of Texas and North Dakota are complaining about this huge savings that consumers have enjoyed since energy prices began falling last summer, economists have been stumped recently trying to figure out exactly what consumers are doing with the windfall.

The Washington Post (Glenn Kessler): President Obama, seeking to explain his veto of a bill that would have leapfrogged the approval process for the Keystone XL pipeline, in an interview with a North Dakota station repeated some false claims that hadpreviously earned him Pinocchios. Yet he managed to make his statement even more misleading than before, suggesting the pipeline would have no benefit for American producers at all.
The Fact Checker obviously takes no position on the pipeline, and has repeatedly skewered both sides for overinflated rhetoric. Yet the president’s latest comments especially stand out. Let’s review the facts again.

“Part of the reason North Dakota has done so well is because we've very much been promoting domestic U.S. energy use. I've already said I'm happy to look at increasing pipeline production for U.S. oil. But Keystone is for Canadian oil. Sending it down to the Gulf. It bypasses the U.S., it estimated to create 250, maybe, 300 permanent jobs. We should be focusing on American infrastructure for American jobs for American producers, and that's something we very much support.”

In the span of just six sentences, the president contradicts expert analysis of Keystone XL’s jobs and market impacts at least four times – about once for each breath.

After more than six years of review, President Obama continues to delay the Keystone XL pipeline, saying bipartisan congressional legislation to advance the project needed to be vetoed to defend process and procedure – a process that now has stretched more than 2,300 days. Keystone XL remains in limbo, despite overwhelming public support, drawing the attention of newspaper editorial boards and columnists across the country:

EIA Today in Energy: Working natural gas in storage has surpassed five-year average levels for the first time in more than a year. At 2,157 billion cubic feet (Bcf) as of February 13, stocks are 58 Bcf greater than the five-year average. Recent extremely cold weather may result in high stock withdrawals for the week ending February 20, which could again push stocks below their five-year average. However, natural gas production in February and March that is forecast to average 5 Bcf/day above the year-ago level is likely to contribute to healthy inventories and moderate prices as the nation moves from winter into spring.

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Energy Tomorrow is a project of the American Petroleum Institute – the only national trade association that represents all aspects of America’s oil and natural gas industry – speaking for the industry to the public, Congress and the Executive Branch, state governments and the media.